Influence of Intermediate Principal Stress on the Bearing Capacity of Strip and Circular Footings

Abstract

AbstractStudies of the bearing capacity of footings usually do not take into account the effect of the intermediate principal stress. In practice, the intermediate principal stress has certain influences on the strength of geomaterials (e.g., rock and soil) or concrete. This paper focuses on a numerical study using the finite-difference code Fast Lagrangian Analysis of Continua (FLAC) and the united strength theory (UST) to investigate the influence of the intermediate principal stress on the bearing capacity of strip and circular footings. A series of numerical solutions are presented to determine the vertical bearing capacity of strip and circular footings using an elastic–perfectly plastic constitutive model following UST and the associative flow rule. First, the bearing capacity of flexible and strip footings according to UST and other criteria are compared. Second, three bearing capacity factors (Nc, Nq, and Nγ) are evaluated for strip and circular footings subjected to centered vertical loads with r...